I think it's good every now and then to have a building that initially makes you go "Ewwww...what IS that ?" Once this thing is complete, I have a feeling that it will become iconic and I mean that in a good way. It IS unique because of it's scale, it's situation, even it's raison d'etre. It's so ugly it's beautiful. It's so out of place that it's going to define the place that it's in.

I hate some of you architecture elitists, who would praise this exact structure if it were built in 1890, yet seem to loathe it now. What a silly, fickle group of nitwits some of you are..

Are you kidding me? I usually agree with you about "architecture elitists" but with a design like this it doesn't matter what year it was built in, its got horrible proportions and will look extremely cheesy because of that. just look at how awkwardly large the top of the main tower is, it look's about 50% larger than it should be.

Not to mention this will probably be clad in some horrid material like Precast or painted concrete that will add to the cheese over time...

How I feel about the building seems immaterial compared to how fascinating I find that photo. If no other talls come to be built in Makkah, this building will be an icon regardless.

BTW, I see some Tamarisk trees in that photo, but most are likely to be found in the canyons and drainages between hills and along creeks and streams, not directly on hillsides. And if I'm not mistaken, Phoenix doesn't have trees on hillsides either. Of course, we all know that Phoenix's landscaping comes at great expense to their water supply.

__________________"Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work." -Chuck Close

Having hiked Phoenix's 3 highest mountains, I can confirm that they do not. The newer suburbs are using more desert landscaping, so there are still some but fewer trees. As far as natural trees go, you need to get about 5000' up into the surrounding mountains to find any.

But back on topic--how tall has the main portion gotten, roughly?

__________________Every time you say Yale University, God kills a puppy